The Trump administration is launching its next effort in helping Europe wean itself off of Russian energy by lending U.S. technology know-how to help cut the ties to the Russian electric grid, says a senior Energy Department official.
Cutting the cord with Russia begins in Poland, where President Trump committed to President Andrzej Duda “that we would take every available step to help them,” Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
Trump had told European leaders earlier in the year that they are “captives” to Russian energy, while opposing a deal to allow Russia build the Nord Stream II natural gas pipeline through Germany to supply the European Union.
Brouillette explained that the administration has pledged its support to diversify Poland’s energy supply, beginning with opening new supply channels for U.S. liquefied natural gas to supplant supplies coming from Russia.
“What we’re doing in Poland is yet another example of the fact that … Europeans generally, and the Poles especially, recognize the risk of doing business with Russia,” he said. “And they are moving very, very aggressively to diversify their energy sources.”
But cooperation with the U.S. is going beyond LNG, Brouillette explained. The U.S. is also helping the Baltic states cut their ties to Russia’s electric grid, which hinges on them connecting to the European Union via Poland.
The U.S. will also work with Poland to boost the electricity it generates from nuclear power to provide electricity.
“Not only with LNG, they’re also talking to us about some nuclear facilities as well as helping them with what we call synchronization of their electric grid,” Brouillette said.
“They are currently tied to the Russian grid. They want to become more harmonized, or synchronized, with the rest of Europe and less dependent and less attached solely to the Russian grid,” he explained. “They are recognizing the risk and are really leading this effort.”
A number of Baltic countries over the summer agreed to temporarily cut ties and desynchronize from Russia’s grid in the summer of 2019 to test of their ability to cut the cord.
Grid synchronization is the process of aligning the regulation of electricity from one frequency to another — cutting ties to the Russian grid — and making Poland able to both transmit to and receive energy from its neighbors.
“The president committed to President Duda that we would take every available step to help them” when the Polish leader was in Washington earlier this year, Brouillette said.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry has made a number of trips to Poland in recent months to reinforce the president’s commitment, he added.
